Cortisol

James Edwards returns to his childhood home to search for his missing brother Mark. Digging deeper into Mark's last recorded whereabouts James finds a community living in fear amongst the haunted canyons of the high rise towers. What are they so afraid of?

James is sought out by the leader of a local gang who warns James to call off his search, that something terrible comes into the estate each night from the wilderness that has taken the form of Mark and its stalking James.

Mark comes back as a distant hooded figure and beckons for James to follow him out into the wilderness as night is falling.

At sunset Mark collapses and transforms into a demonic hell hound and attacks James.

James becomes like Mark and the brothers are together again in demonic form. Night is falling, the hunt begins.....

  • Philip Coburn
    Director
  • Philip Coburn
    Writer
  • Philip Coburn
    Producer
  • Carl Wright
    Key Cast
  • Humphrey Pitman
    Key Cast
  • Shomari Brown
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller, Horror
  • Runtime:
    23 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 3, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    1,100 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Motor City Nightmares Festival
    Detroit
    April 23, 2016
    World
  • Open Door Short Film Showcase
    London
    March 12, 2016
Director Biography - Philip Coburn

Graduating from Bournemouth Film School, Philip has developed his career as a director, producer and editor working on fashion promos, online tutorials and music videos. Cortisol is his fourth film since 2014.

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Director Statement

The original concept of Cortisol was to make a film about wilderness and the fear of being stalked by an unseen foe. Set where I grew up, in the vast open countryside of Norfolk, it followed a man obsessed with the idea of finding a big cat that was said to haunt the open fields and woodlands. We follow his journey to corner his prey. With that simple concept I then layered on a background of ancient myth and legend.
In Norfolk you are surrounded by evidence of the long dead, crumbling monasteries, ruined castles, ancient earth works and the sites of forgotten settlements. The air of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic realms still live and breathe in the fields and silent woodlands. Deep in these bastions of nature it’s easy to still believe in something else.
Fast forward several years and I had moved to London. Through my work as a videographer I worked for a charity helping to document inner city social schemes. I found myself in some of the toughest estates in London and remembered the story from back home, then merged the two. The journey remains (this time involving the search for his missing brother), as does the obsession, but now the story is set in the haunted canyon of a crumbling housing estate, cut off from the world, constantly in fear of the encroaching wilderness. In this isolated world James finds that if you look long enough into the abyss, the abyss will look back into you. Beware the shadows...